Christopher Akerlind (born May 1, 1962, in Hartford, Connecticut) [1] is an American lighting designer for theatre, opera, and dance. He won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for Indecent . He also won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Light in the Piazza and an Obie Award for sustained excellence for his work Off-Broadway.
He attended Boston University College of Fine Arts (1985) [2] and the Yale School of Drama, training with Jennifer Tipton.
He was Head of Lighting Design and Director of the Design & Production Programs at the CalArts School of Theater.
He has designed many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, working on both musicals and straight plays. He is noted for his work for director Lloyd Richards on the first productions of the plays of August Wilson, including The Piano Lesson (1990) and Seven Guitars (1996).
He was the Resident Lighting Designer for twelve years at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Akerlind was a Visiting Associate Professor and Director of Production at the University of Southern California School of the Theatre (now the School of Dramatic Arts) from 2007 to 2008, has guest taught at New York University, the University of Connecticut, Yale, and for the Broadway Lighting Master Classes. [3]
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction.
Paula Vogel is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Brown University, where she served as Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor in Creative Writing, oversaw its playwriting program, and helped found the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, Vogel was Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair at the Yale School of Drama, as well as playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
Jennifer Tipton is an American lighting designer. She has designed for dance, theater, and opera. She is known for working on many productions of American Ballet Theatre.
Victoria Clark is an American actress, musical theatre singer and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her soprano voice can also be heard on innumerable cast albums and several animated films. In 2008, she released her first solo album titled Fifteen Seconds of Grace. In 2005, she won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in The Light in the Piazza. She also won the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for her performances in the same show. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she is currently nominated for her performance in Kimberly Akimbo.
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country's most acclaimed theatre organizations.
Brian Murray was a South African actor and theatre director who was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2004.
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation, with additional support from the Theatre Development Fund.
Kevin Adams is an American theatrical lighting designer. He has earned four Tony Awards for lighting design.
Peggy Eisenhauer is an American lighting designer for both theatre and films. She has designed or co-designed some 41 Broadway productions and frequently collaborates with Jules Fisher.
Derek McLane is an American set designer for theatre, opera, and television. He graduated with a BA from Harvard College and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He also received the 2019 Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the 2016 Jerome Robbins Award for Directing. He was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. For his work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Timbers won a 2021 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.
Adding Machine is a musical with music by Joshua Schmidt, and book and lyrics by Schmidt and Jason Loewith. It is an adaptation of Elmer Rice's 1923 play of the same name.
Catherine Zuber is a costume designer for the Broadway theater and opera, among other venues. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and has been referred to as "one of theater's most sought-after costume designers on both coasts."
Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Paige Evans. Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work. It has been located in the Pershing Square Signature Center since 2012.
Sergio Trujillo is a theater director, choreographer, dancer and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is now an American citizen and resides in New York City. Trujillo was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Ain't Too Proud and the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Memphis. He is the first ever Hispanic recipient of the Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Anna Louizos is an American scenic designer and art director. She is known for her Tony Award-nominated sets for the musicals In the Heights and High Fidelity, as well as the London, Broadway, Las Vegas, and touring productions of Avenue Q. Louizos was represented on Broadway with Cinderella at the Broadway Theatre in 2013–15.
Barry & Fran Weissler are Tony Award-winning, American theatrical producers.
Neil Austin is an English lighting designer. He has won two Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards and is the lighting designer for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, for which he has won an Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Helpmann, Outer Critics Circle and WhatsOnStage Award.